It was just dark, the snow was still falling, and the snow car was lighting up and moving forward in the snow field. A small video that Xiao Rong shared on Douyin is his daily work. The 27-year-old Beijing guy, once a chef, later a snowboarder, is now a snowmobile driver. At present, he is serving in the Chongli area of the Winter Olympic Games, and although he is not responsible for snow pressing on the track, he is also a "new driver" on the side of the Winter Olympic field.
From chef to veneer master
In the Chongli area, Xiao Rong is responsible for driving snow grooming, doing some non-track snow pressure, and some carrying work. Looking at his skillful control of the snow car in the small video, it is completely unimaginable that he was once a western chef in a five-star hotel.
"It's a shame to say, when I was a child, I didn't study very well, I went to vocational high school, and I learned Western cooking." Coincidentally, when Xiao Rong was learning Western cooking, he met Zhang Jiahao, a first-class master of Chinese snowboarding. After graduation, the two went to work in different hotels. "My job is to make bread, and so is Jiahao, every day is the assembly line, step by step. Suddenly, one day, Jiahao asked me, do you want to learn to ski? So, in 2012, following Zhang Jiahao, Xiao Rong also played snowboarding.
It was 10 years ago, and very few people played snowboarding. Two young people, with meager incomes, began to chase their dreams on the snow. "I was interning at that time, and my income was only 1200 yuan a month." However, a life of hard work but dreams is often the most unforgettable time in life. "I don't work as hard as Jiahao, I work so hard, but I can still feel the joy of skiing."
Bent on becoming an "old driver"
Later, the trajectory of Zhang Jiahao and Xiao Rong slowly changed. Zhang Jiahao became a professional player, while Xiao Rong stayed at the amateur level.
Xiao Rong quit his job as a western chef, worked as a ski instructor, and also did snow maintenance. "It was during the maintenance of the snow field that I was exposed to a snow car." Naturally interested in machinery, he began to look around for relationships, find friends, and learn snow grooming techniques. Zhang Jiahao also helped him, contacting the snow field everywhere. "Jiahao helped me contact the Changbaishan Wanda Ski Resort, which is the training base of the national team. There, I learned a lot from a lot of highly skilled foreign 'old drivers'. ”
By chance, Zhang Jiahao is currently working at the Genting Ski Resort in Chongli. Despite being a new driver, he didn't stop learning for a moment. There are many things to learn about how to press the snow, push the snow, and how to get the players to play to the limit level on the snow field. He said: "In this line of work, there is no end to learning. ”
At the last minute, Zhang Jiahao failed to catch the last train of the Winter Olympic qualification. Xiao Rong is only a little bit away from the snow pressure work on the official track of the Winter Olympics. But their ice and snow dreams are still continuing. "The work of snow pressing is still more suitable for people who can ski, know how to ski, and love skiing."